Another thought from the Christian Thinker

Yes I know you are tired of me writing on the subject of textual criticism. But when you see something wrong, do you just close your eyes and mind and pretend it will go away? No! When something is wrong you speak up and tell the truth. This brings me to the reason I'm writing this today. In my favorite on line book store, I found a gem of a book called,"The New Testament In The Original Greek" by Maurice A. Robinson and Wiliam G. Pierpont. What makes the book special is its non-bias toward any particular Greek manuscript. Just and essay in the Appendix stating why the Byzantine textform was perhaps the best representative of the autographs. There was no slandering of one text over another, just a clear reason as to why the Byzantine textform represents the original autographs better than all the other textforms. In very clear and unbiased terminology. The main portion of the book was the New Testament Byzantine text in clear Greek fonts and all punctuations,very clear and easy to read. Has the variants in notes at bottom of page, making no detraction while reading the text. It is in a beautiful hardcover at a very affordable price. It is a real find and a real gem. Refreshing not to be constantly being told that the oldest and best manuscript says this or doesn't have that word or verse. You can get your copy at www.jesuslovesyouchristianbooks.com    

BUYER BEWARE-a book review

Yep,the old Christian Thinker is at it again. Just finished reading the book by Janet Parshall, titled ;" BUYER BEWARE." Really like this book because Janet gets right to the point and nevers let up. This is a quality I admire about her. I listen regularly to her radio program on Moody Radio. But, this is the first book of hers that I have read and was not disappointed.  First; to really get the total jist of the book, highly recommend you read : Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan. For Janet uses ideas from it that really bring home her points in a way that ,not only brings a smile to my face, but helps to focus on the main point of a market place of ideas out in the world, who like in the book-Pilgrims Progress,you find the world around you clammering buy this idea or try my idea for it is the one that is right, not God or his Word. Don't know if you are like me or not, I find it very noisy a lot of times with so many people telling me the Bible or God's thinking is old fashion and out of date. But, Janet's book brings the facts out along with the truth to really get you to thinking. She press's the point so well about Christians get out in world and stand up for the truth. One of the examples she uses is , Elias Boudinot who was president of the Continental Congress from 1782 to 1783. Then he was elected to Congress, representing the state of New Jersey from 1790 to 1795. In 1817, following his tenure in government, Boudinot was selected to be president of the American Bible Society. This christian man went into the public arena to make a difference in the market place of ideas. He could have rested and did nothing for the rest of his life, but choose not to. As Janet states so well in the book, "Being a Christian meant taking a Christian worldview out into the world,whether it was the halls of Congress or on a foreign mission field. He knew the power of the Word of God to change the world around us. He wrote: ' "Hath God in his condescending grace appointed us to become his humble instruments in opening the eyes of the blind; in cheering the abodes of primeval darkness with the joyful sounds of redeeming love; in fulfilling the encouraging prophecy of the angel flying through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel in his hands, to preach to all nations, languages, tongues and people on the earth." ' Like Janet so well points out time and time again, that as Christians we are to be out in the market place of ideas with a Christian world view about the Word of God and the Gospel truth   . Where in the Word of God does of state that as a Christian we are not to engage the worldview with to Christian facts that there is a real savour that loves them. If we do not go out and proclaim the truth of Gods Word how will we ever expect people all around us to ever change?" BUYER BEWARE " is full of such powerful truths and challanges to Christians everywhere to go out and push through Vanity Fare and hold to the truth of Christ and his salvation against a hostile world of ideas that are against the Truth of Christ. As only Janet can say it, " For the sake of the Gospel, for the message of the Cross, for the love of our Savior, will you now enter into the marketplace of ideas?  You can find this book and other great gift giving ideas at www.jesuslovesyouchristianbooks.com   

Book Review Of "NEVER SURRENDER" by LTG (Ret.) WILLIAM G. BOYKIN

Yes, I'm back again but hopefully more encouraging than Bible translations. Still you needed to know the  truth. Now lets move on to this Book of "A Soldier's Journey to the Crossroads of Faith and Freedom" This is a Mans,Man who loves God,his men,and his country. In 1978, Jerry became a part of the world's premier Operations unit,Delta Force. His only promise was "A medal and a body bag."  Jerry goes in to great depth to explain his training for inclusion into Delta Force. Like ,"After suiting up, I trudged out out into the cold darkness. The pines cast long blue shadows in the snow and moonlight glinted between them. My breath made clouds in the air. I wondered if I would make it. Around the twelfth hour, if the pace was sufficient to meet the requirement, the man would be totally exhausted. He began to look for excuses to quit, to slow down, even to hope he would injure himself. Anything to allow him to stop. It was then,after the twelfth hour, that many men quit, or rested too long, or slowed to a pace that prohibited them from meeting the time requirement. My face sagged and my mouth hung open, lungs burning as I sucked in icy air. My nose ran and my ears felt frozen hard to my head. At some point, I lapsed into a kind of trance, crunching under snow-laden pine branches,dragging boulder feet with rubber legs. I wanted to drop my weapon, drag my rucksack off my back and like Elijah, lie down under a tree and wait to die." This is where most would have quit,but not Jerry Boykin, he pushed on to make the time requirement. Was picked for Delta Force. And went on to greater challenges in life. This is a small portion of what awaits you in the book of a great hero of the U.S.A., and a spiritual Hero in the Faith. Highly recommend this book to you. It's fast paced and you will not want to put it down until you finish the book. Thank God for our Armed Forces. You can get more info on this great read and many more at www.jesuslovesyouchristianbooks.com   

Not really sure where to start, so I'll start with my convictions that all my brothers and sisters in Christ should think about the things at stake concerning the Bible and the translations we take for granite. For instance, if you use ,say a modern English translation,like the New English Translation ,and never compared it to the Greek text or a Literal Translation Bible you would be greatly surprised and angry at the publisher for the way the translators handled the text like any book on the market. For example,the Literal Translation says, Mark 14.25 says,"Truly I say to you that no more,not at all I may drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God." And then in John 19.28-29 says ,"After this, knowing that all things now have been finished that the scripture be fulfilled,Jesus said,I thirst. Then a vessel full of vinegar was set, and having a sponge with vinegar, and putting hyssop around They brought it to His mouth." Yet in the NET Bible it says verse 19.29 "A jar full of sour wine was there, so they put a sponge soaked in sour wine on a branch of hyssop and lifted it to His mouth." So the new translation has Jesus lying which being the very essence God,  He could not break His own vow. Now take a look at the New International Version in John 9.35,"Jesus heard they had thrown him out, and when He found him, He said,"'Do you believe in the Son of Man?'" Now let us look at the Literal Translation,same verse,"Jesus heard that they threw him outside, and finding him, He said to him, Do you believe into the Son of God?" Now look at what they say in the NIV ," Son of Man" while the" LIT" says Son of God.  "The Son of Man" is never connected with believing in the true scriptures. Even the NET Bible makes this same mistake.I could go on and on through all the modern English translations,except the New King James or the KJ3 Literal Translations, and find paraphrasing and word additions and subtractions that are not in any Greek text of the New Testament or New Testament dictionary. So back to my main point, why do you my brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, do you not take some time and make comparisons with the translations and see what it really says both in the Greek and English or Spanish,etc.. Yes I here some of you say I don't have the translations to compare. The library is close and it is free. Ask and they will help you find Bible translations. To much time some will say. Well then is God worth your time or not? He did died for you or did He not? Then die to yourself and start looking up verses and start comparing. Do not know how to read the Greek? Well get a Strong's concordance and The Interlinear Bible , and this too is available at your local Library,and look,look and study. One tool that will make your comparison and research easier is "UNHOLY HANDS ON THE BIBLE",volume 2, this is where many man hours in comparing all translations ,The New American Standard Bible,The New International Version,The Revised Version,The New Revised Version,The Good News Bible,and The New American Bible. If you start there, you will see the Truth and the Truth will set you free! If you would like copies for your personal library, check out www.jesuslovesyouchristianbooks.com     

Recently while reading the volumes 1&2 of "Unholy Hands on the Bible",I came across the theme the neutrality of "Textual Criticism ". I also thought that it might be possible to find such a thing. After much thought and research I found that it could not be true. What I did find just might wake you up. For one thing,there is no such thing as neutrality and scholarly objectivity in the academic community. So how can any one believe that such a thing is real? It is nothing more than an illusion. Those in the academic world will know that it is "liberally sprinkled with bias,party lines,fads,vendettas,personal ambitions,spite and just plain meanness, quite  apart from satanic hatred for the truth." I can not see how there could ever be, "neutrality and objectivity", found or assumed whenever you are working with the truth of God. This is a place where neither God or Satan will allow neutrality. Second Corinthians 4.4 clearly says,"...in whom the god of this age has blinded the thoughts of the faithless ones,so that the illumination of the Gospel of the glory of Christ Jesus, who is the image of God, should not shine on them." In Matthew 12.30 Jesus himself said," The one who is not with Me is against Me,and the one who does not gather with Me scatters." Even Christ does not claim any Neutrality. You are for Him or against Him. You are not let with but two options,"for or against". Another way to say it is " you accept Christ or you reject Him". There can not be any middle ground. No NEUTRALITY! So,we come to the real truth that Neutrality is a Myth! Or an out an out lie. Must tell it like it really is.  And once more I quote Wilbur N. Pickering Th.M Ph.D.,"The Bible claims to be God's Word. Again our options are but two. It follows that when dealing with the text of Scripture neutrality is impossible! The Bible is clear about satanic interference in the minds of human beings,and most especially when they are considering God's Truth.2 Corinthians states plainly that the god of this age /world blinds the minds of unbelievers when are confronted with the Gospel. The Lord Jesus said the same thing when He explained the parable of the sower,"when they heard, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts." (Mk.4.15/Lk.8.12) Furthermore,there is a pervasive satanic infleunece upon all human culture. 1John 5.19 states that "the whole world lies in with the evil one." The picture is clearly one of massive infleuence,if not control-NASB,RSV,NEB and Jerusalem render "in the power of,"TEV has "under the sway of." All the human culture is under pervasive satanic infleuence,including the culture of the academic community. Ephesian 2.2 is even more precise ;...in which you formerly walked according to the course of the world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air,the spirit now working in the sons of disobedience,...".Satan actively works in the mind of anyone who rejects God's authority over him. For someone who claims to believe God's Word to accept an edition of the Bible that was prepared by unbelievers is to ignore the teaching of that Word." To find a copy of God's Word by a true believer I recommend KJ3 Literal Translation at www.jesuslovesyouchristianbooks.com    

This will be my ending review of the excellent book "UNHOLY HANDS ON THE BIBLE " vol. 2.  But I'd like to hear from what you think on this subject. This volume covers so much information and details on different Modern Bible translations. So I'll let you buy a copy for yourself and make your own decision. What I will do is turn it over to Mr.Wilbur Pickering,Th.M Ph.D , "What difference does it make?" "It has been argued for at least 200 years (John Bengal,d.1752,was the first), that no matter what Greek text one may use it will not effect doctrine. In my own experience,for over thirty years, when I have raised the question  of what is the correct Greek text of the New Testament, regardless of the audience, the usual response has been; "What difference does it make?" Mr. Pickering continues,"The eclectic Greek text presently in vogue,UBS3 (third edition of the Greek New Testament produced by the United Bible Societies),represents the type of text upon which most modern versions are based.( The KJV,the NKJV,the MKJV and the Literal Translation follow a rather different type of text, a close cousin of the Majority Text,edited by Hodges and Forstad and published by Thomas Nelson Publishers).  The discrepancy between UBS3 and the Majority Text is around 8% (involving 8% of the words.) In a Greek text 600 pages that represent 48 solid pages worth of discrepancies. About a fifth of that reflects omissions in the eclectic text , so it is some ten pages shorter than the Majority Text. Although perhaps half of the differences between the Majority and eclectic texts might be termed "inconsequential",I suppose, that leaves some 25 pages worth of differences that are significant ( in varying degrees). In spite of these differences it is usually assumed that no cardinal Christian doctrine is at risk ( though some ,such as eternal judgement,the ascension and the deity of Jesus , are weakened). However, the most basic of all,the divine inspiration of the text,is indeed under attack.   The eclectic text incorporates plain errors of fact and contradictions such as that any claim that the New Testament is divinely inspired becomes relative, and the doctrine of inerrancy becomes untenable. If the authority of the New Testament is undermined, all its teachings are likewise affected. During the whole century the credibility of the New Testament text has been eroded, and this credibilty crisis has been forced upon the attention of the laity by the modern versions that encloses parts of the text in brackets and have numerous footnotes that raise doubts about the integrity of the text. The consequences of all this are serious and far- reaching for the future of the Church."  If you would like to read more on this subject visit www.jesuslovesyouchristianbooks.com and purchase a copy of volume 2 of "UNHOLY HANDS ON THE BIBLE.           

Why Has the Western Church Stopped Guarding The Sacrade Text: THE BIBLE?

I have recently finish reading ,"Unholy Hands On The Bible",by John W. Burgon. This man really set a standard in Textual Criticism that no one from his time of late 1880's untill now has ever held too or exceeded him to date. It seems that almost every one in this field today has held to Textual Criticism without THEOLOGY. It seems as though the modern idea of translation is holding to Hort,Griesbach,Lachman,Tregelles,and Tischendorfs' lust affair for codex's Aleph and B.  Now this is where I insert the question,"WHY HAS THE WESTERN CHURCH STOPPED GUARDING THE SACRADE TEXT?" The Church for about 1900 years has guarded the text and remove all corrupt and pseudo books that were added to it over the centuries.Then in the late 1880's we allow ungodly men to write us a new Greek text based on known corrupt texts, codex's Aleph and B,and today we are still basing our salvation on these to corrupt authorities because they are the oldest we have. Yet this does not mean they are the best to base your salvation on. The Majority Text or the Received Text where held to be the true text for over a 1900 years. True we did not have copies of manuscripts we have today,but 99 out of a 100 manuscripts support the Majority Text and the critics still disregard this fact.   The Eastern Church still uses as its New Testament manuscript for its modern Greek New Testament,the Majority Text. They still guard the sacrade New Testament to this very hour. Where is the Western Church? Why have you allowed Satan to seduce us into the Gnostic teachings of the corrupt texts of Aleph and B; and the added words not in any Greek manuscript in the name of modern style,or to make sure we poor unschooled souls understand the text. As the Western Church we need to step up and examine the so-called Bibles they are selling us. Those of us in the Seminaries need to step up to the plate and take a much closer look at what the Theology Schools are teaching us. And if it is wrong, take a stand for Christ and tell them it is wrong,even though you could be removed from the class or worse, removed from the Seminary. I'm preaching to myself as much as am preacher to You the Western Church. To learn more on Textual Criticism please check out the two volume set "UNHOLY HANDS ON THE BIBLE" at www.jesuslovesyouchristianbooks.com or at www.sgpbooks.com